LUSAN

She covered her mouth, chuckling, "It's okay; I suppose I get that quite a lot."

"You don't seem so surprised that you have unwelcome visitors." Lenin declared.

The atmosphere shifted as we all prepared for what would happen next.

"Let's just say I have been in this situation before." She nodded. A while back, the village of Quis arrived, accusing us of trespassing on their land.

Immediately, I let out a nervous chuckle, "Yeah. . . That was us." I scratched the back of my head as we all shamefully looked away, except Lenin.

Eleanor let out a soft smile that didn't reach her face. "I see. . . We had to pay reparations for something we didn't do, " she declared with a hint of sweet venom. "Not only that, we also had to produce twice the resources to keep up."

I gulped, knowing that we may have fucked up and potentially ruined our chances of even getting what we wanted here.

Before Lenin spoke, Elenoir intervened again: "Let me guess. You came here for something that we have?"

Lenin looks straight into her eyes, "Yes."

"Well, then, you already know the answer. . . No." She declared.

"But we didn't mean to," Tara spoke up.

"Yeah, we can trade you, Solum, so much of it!" Zac added.

She scoffed, waving her hand in dismissal, "You think I'm that superficial and willing to take Solum from your hands?"

Lenin did her best to calm her down, "That's not what we're trying to say."

"That's ex-"

BOOM

A loud noise appeared out of nowhere, and then a large horn began playing.

"What's that noise?"

Her eyes widened, "It's too soon; they're already here." She muttered lowly as a flame in her eyes appeared. "Just stay here; I'll deal with you guys later."

We watched as she rushed out of the greenhouse.

"We're seriously not going just to stay here, right?" Tara asked.

Lenin chuckled and shook his head. "That's the last thing we're going to do. Everyone, let's go."

We quickly rushed to catch up to Eleanor, only to see everyone cowering in fear. Eleanor was the only one who dared to stand proud and strong.

But I could tell that her body was betraying her, as just like everyone, she too was just as scared.

In front of her were crowds of rough-looking soldiers, precisely the ones we had encountered last time. They all wore devilish smirks and carried what I assumed were their own crafted weapons.

One of them, tall and muscular, mounted off his horse, his hands on his hips, standing prouder than ever.

"What are you doing here!" Eleanor declared loudly; her voice could be heard across the plain fields. "You said by the end of the week."

The man chuckled his axe on his shoulder, "By the end of the week or today. What's the difference?" He stepped closer to her, practically towering over her.

All the other people could do was watch in fear.

"Now, dear, give me all your livestock."

"What, all of it? You said you only needed half of it."

"I changed my mind." He spat on the ground, "Give it now or else."

I could see Eleanor shaking in fear, but that didn't stop her from clenching her fingers on the sword's handle and glaring up at him.

He grinned, "Gladly."

WHOOSH

In a blink of an eye, before he could even slice Elenoir with his axe, Lenin had already made it all the way there.

His sword is currently preventing Eleanor from getting hurt.

We quickly rushed over to her side.

"Oh!" the man chuckled. It seems you have some competent people on your side after all." He grinned devilishly, pressing his axe against Lenin's sword, but he didn't budge.

"Do you want to sign your death?" The man stared straight into Lenin's eyes.

CLANG!

The man instantly fell onto the ground, creating distance from us.

I looked at Lenin in awe, wondering how he had managed to do that.

"You bastard!" The man roared, "I want this village to burn! Now!"

The soldiers charged towards us, and we looked at each other, ready for what was to come.

CLANG!

BLANG!

CLANG!

These soldiers were no joke at all,

One of them charged at full force at me with incredible speed. His sword struck my face. I managed to dodge it, but just barely.

His strike caused his sword to be stuck to the ground as he desperately tried to lift it out of the soil.

Now was my chance.

I charged at him, impaling him with my sword.

I instantly pulled it out, ready for the next foe to come.

While I was dealing with my problems, Tara and Zac could also be dealing with their own.

Zac was waiting for a moment like this; he was bloodthirsty, aggressive, and permanently the most aggravated of us.

Meanwhile, Eleanor was handing her own, taking down a couple herself.

But the real fight was the one that Lenin was currently having with the big guy himself.

However, in all honesty, it seems that Lenin was playing around with him, testing his skills.

There was no struggle for him when it came to fighting him.

It was like watching Lenin dance around him.

Soon enough, the enemy's numbers dwindled as we sliced through our opponents.

He raised his hand in surrender until that man was the only one left standing, knowing he could not survive.

"We should cut him up into pieces when we have the chance to." Zac declared, glaring over at him as he attempted to move closer to him.

I instinctively blocked him with my arm, shaking my head.

The last thing we needed was for Zac to be ballistic on him.

"As fun as that sounds," Lenin commented, looking over his shoulder, "I don't think that's what Eleanor wants, correct?"

She nodded, "Right."

Lenin returned the nod.

WHOOSH!

Lenin instantly kicked the man's chest, causing him to drop to the ground; before he could even react, Lenin had already towered over him, his leg on his chest preventing him from moving.

As his sword was right up the man's face.

Any wrong move now, Lenin could take his life, and it was clear that he wouldn't hesitate in doing so at all.

Now the question was, what was Lenin going to do next?

"I'm going to set you free alongside the other men who managed to survive this little predicament." Lenin began pointing his sword closer to his face. "Then, once you return to your village, I want you to report back to your leader and tell him I want to meet with him."

He scoffed, but despite him doing that, his eyes betrayed him. "W-What makes you think I'm not the leader?"

Lenin chuckled, pressing his leg onto his chest, causing him to grunt. "Because if you were, I'd be fairly disappointed."

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The man looked at him, and we needed to know that Lenin was telling the truth.

Lenin released his feet off his chest, letting the man stand up.

Lenin nodded at us as we let the enemies get up on their feet.

We watched as they hurried back to their horses, not before the man looked at us, and finally, they disappeared.

"Here." I smiled, extending my hand to Eleanor.

She returned it with a small "Thank you." She accepted and got up on her feet.

We both looked at Lenin, who was watching them quickly disappear.

"How strong is he?" Eleanor muttered.

I shrugged, "Hell, I don't even know. . ."

Lenin made his way over to us with a casual smile.

"We have a couple of days before their leader comes here, " he said.

Eleanor raised an eyebrow in amusement, "How do you know that? Also, how did you even know he wasn't the leader?"

That was probably something that we were all currently curious about.

"Don't you guys learn military tactics 101? " He joked, but his laughter died out as we gave him a deadpan look.

"Tough crowd," he muttered, clearing his throat. "Well, it'd be too stupid for the actual leader to come here demanding for the livestock." He paused for a moment. So he decided to have an enforcer come. To scare you."

"I see. . . It does make sense." Eleanor nodded in agreement.

"Of course, it makes sense." Lenin chuckled, "I would've sent in Zac."

"Hey!" Zac blurted out.

"I'm kidding." Lenin slapped him on the back.

"I guess I have to owe you one anyway, huh?"

Lenin waved his hand in dismissal, "You don't have to owe us anything. I would like to have some time to talk to you about that proposal if it's not too time-consuming for you."

She smiled, "Yeah. . . We can do that."

LENIN

I waited patiently as she looked at the list of requests I had made for her.

Once she was done, she looked up at me.

"This is. . . Interesting, to say the least." She smiled, handing the list back to me, "It's too good of an offer not to take, but I can't help but think there's some underlying motive."

I chuckled, raising my hand in surrender, "I promise, there's no secret motive."

I mean, was there?

I wouldn't say there was some motive; we just needed workers to help Rickston with his architectural project.

She eyed me carefully. "Are you just willing to trade us that many bags of Solum as well? It seems like my village gets the better deal between us."

"Look," I smiled, "If you don't trust us, you can break the deal whenever you want to. You can retract your workers whenever you want, and we'll still uphold our part of the deal. We'll still give you bags of Solum."

Eleanor chuckled, "I don't know what to say; you're either optimistic or stupid."

I sheepishly smiled, "I like to think I'm idealistic in an unrealistic world."

"An idealistic person, hun?" She muttered.

"I suppose I want to sign a deal with an idealistic person then, on one condition." She raised a finger.

"Sure, that can be settled; what is it?"

"I want to see the work that my workers are doing."

I chuckled, nodding, "That can be arranged." I extended my hand towards her as she looked at me.

She smiled, shaking my hand.

"Now, since we are business partners, I think it's only fair I show you the secrets to why this village is known for its farming."

"You don't have to."

She chuckled, "Trust me, I want to. It's a thank you."

I nodded, "Alright then lead the way."

———

Whatever she was taking me, I was not expecting her to take me to a place like this.

I didn't even notice that this had been here the whole time.

It's probably because I was too busy focusing on everything else that I didn't realise this was under me.

We went deeper and deeper under the ground, where more guards patrolled the area.

I was surprised that there were guards even in this village here; where were they when they were fighting those people?

But then she said, "When I was younger, my family used to tell me all these stories about how the Royals of Juvo had the most powerful abilities."

I chuckled, "Where are you going with this?"

She looked over her shoulder, smiling, "Let me just finish." Eleanor chuckled, "Funnily enough, they told me this story about this shrine. It could naturally produce Solum, not just any Solum, but Purpura Solum."

"Did you believe it?" I found this conversation amusing.

Eleanor scoffed, "Believe me when I say this. I did not believe it one bit when I was younger. It was folklore." She paused momentarily, "From what I've heard, The Kingdom of Juvo is far beyond our little villages. They are way advanced."

She wasn't wrong about that at all.

Felix's creations were made long ago when we were younger and having fun at the Kingdom of Juvo.

We were not denying heading into a world of the unknown.

"But that's not the point." We stopped in our tracks as we stood behind a curtain, "Because everything I just told you. . ."

She opened the curtains, "This was completely true."

Any person who heard this information would have been shocked by this revelation.

This was earth-shattering news that would have changed everyone's mind.

But I wasn't just average; I knew something like this existed.

The Shrine of Solums.

These were rare things. It was obvious that there was a shrine at the Kingdom of Juvo, but it did surprise me that there had been a shrine here out of all places.

The question was, where are the other two?

KASSIE

Living here was something else.

I liked it; having to live in a peaceful village was always lovely to experience every once in a while.

I was a stay-at-home mother most of the time, caring for Maro. Don't get me wrong; I loved doing it, but every mother needs a break.

I was thankful that Rachel could look after her daughter and Maro today. Maro didn't look too pleased about having someone else babysit him, but I needed that break.

I stepped outside the house and saw the small changes in the village.

A while back, it seemed that this village was dead of life, but now, it seemed to have a purpose, and it was clear to me that Rickston had all done the work to achieve said purpose.

"A little bit more to the left!" Rickston shouted at the workers, "No! Not your left, my left!" He grumbled, rubbing his temple. "I did not think it would be this hard."

"Watchu doing there?"

"Holy shit!" It almost looked like Rickston was about to jump out of his skin, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just came here."

He sighed in relief, "You know, you're one scary girl."

I scoffed playfully, "Do people still think that about me?"

Rickston nodded rapidly, "No offence, but everyone at the Kingdom of Juvo was terrified of you."

He wasn't wrong with that; I suppose people tended to be afraid of me for the right reasons.

I may or may not have mercilessly bullied people, Rickston being one of them. It was funny; could you blame me?

"If I remember, you used to bully Lenin the most."' He chuckled.

"Let's not talk about that," I grumbled, looking down at the ground.

Funnily enough, that was the only way I could ever get Lenin's attention when we were younger.

I was too nervous to talk to him properly, so what was the best way possible?

It was to bully him, and did it work? Sort of. . .

We ended up having Maro after all because I bullied him.

But that is not the point!

"How this grand architectural planning that I've heard from Lenin?"

He chuckled, shaking his head, "Not good at all. It would be much better if we had way more workers here."

I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "Well, knowing you, you could make this village something else when you're done with it."

He placed his hands on his hips, "I hope so. I don't want to disappoint the big boss." Rickston paused momentarily; it was pretty apparent that he wanted to ask something else. "You know how freakishly you're the smartest person I know besides Lenin, right?"

I shrugged, "Where are you trying to get with this?"

Rickston took a deep breath, "The way he's doing this, laying low and all of that. How accurate are the prophecies that we all have?"

He was asking a good question.

"You didn't pay attention to the Prophecy Classes we all had during school, huh?"

He chuckled, "Never found it interesting."

"Most prophecies, if not all prophecies, are set in stone. But there is always a way for people to change their prophecy. Some did with their prophecy never being fulfilled, you know."

"But then again. . ." I paused, "Those who had their prophecy changed weren't that important to begin with."

"I see. . ." Rickston muttered, "We both know that you and Lenin certainly don't fit that category."

I nodded, "our prophecies are set in stone."

The question was when it would happen; I was unsure of it.

We could only predict, and that was all we could do.

"Do you believe that the Deuses gave our prophecies?"

I nodded again, "As funny as it sounds, they are more than real."

"I guess I haven't had the chance to meet with one yet."

"Seeing one, let alone talking to one, is extremely rare. The only person I've known who has spoken to one was Lenin, but that was when he was younger."

It was said that the Deus were the ones who created everything in Vestigo.

From what I heard from others, I knew there was a great war among the Deus, and in doing so, they decided never to intervene with this world again.

But, of course, only through prophecies and all sorts of weird stuff.

"What made you decide to think that?"

Rickston shrugged, "Just curious. . . What was your prophecy."

"To lead him to the path." I declared in earnest.

"That sounds a bit ominous, don't you think?" He let out a nervous chuckle.

"It does," I nodded. "But I hope that by letting him make our decisions together, we can unanimously make whatever this prophecy says." I joked.

"I get it." He answered, "So that was why you moved out of The Kingdom of Juvo."

"Yeah. . . We thought if we were further away from the place, we could dwindle the chances of the prophecy happening." I paused momentarily, "But we all know we're simply delaying the inevitable."

"Hell, to think that there are things like our Plantea. I can't even connect with it, let alone be in tune with the Solum in me."

"Hey, probably because your Plantea isn't that strong, to begin with?"

While Rickston felt down about being unable to connect with his Solum and Plantea, he had almost forgotten that they were scarce even to have.

Sure, compared to me or Lenin, he wouldn't stand a chance, but to the average person, he could destroy them if he wanted to.

The power scaling between those who had Solum and those who didn't was astronomical.

It was rare that even the most experienced individuals without Solum defeated someone inexperienced with Solum.

"I think that's enough talking about prophecies for a day; how about you check out the blueprints?"

I smiled, accepting his offer.

It was amazing to see the amount of dedication and hard work he had developed in his blueprints. They were great to see and were a testament to his skills as an artist.

I was excited to see these projects come to fruition.

The chance of seeing children being able to gain an education would be an aiming sight to see.

It was like watching a dream come true.

When I finished that, I let Rickston deal with his department as I went to the lab to visit my good old friend Felix.

It had been a while since I had spoken to him one-on-one.

As I entered the lab, I saw Felix already at work with the Solum, and he was dealing with his issue.

He groaned, sitting himself down on his chair, as he took off his lab glasses.

"Is everything alright?" I asked as he turned over to me.

Felix slumped himself even more in the chair. "Things could be going better, " he muttered. "I heard that Rachel is babysitting."

"Yeah." I smiled, "She's doing me a great favour."

I looked around the mess Felix had made in the lab, curious, and asked, "What are you working on?"

"I'm working on making this Solum into Purpura Solum, but it seems to me I can only get to it Ater barely Rubrum on a good day."

If anything, I was more than impressed that I could change the Solum in the first place.

The Kingdom of Juvo was, last I remembered, only at the level of Viridis.

Our technology had yet to reach the level where it could turn plain Solum into full, pure Purpura.

What took the Kingdom of Juvo years to do was done in a couple of months by Felix himself. Now, that was a testament to his ingenuity.

"Hey, by the time Lenin returns with the good news, we'll be able to keep this village up and running."

A small smile flickered on his face as he pointed at me, "That's if they come back in time; they've been gone for quite a while now."

It was true; I thought they would've been here much earlier, but that meant one thing.

"There's probably a conflict."

He chuckled, "There's a conflict." He softly smiled as he looked at the Solum, "I never told you and Lenin this. . . But I appreciate you helping us with all of this, you know?"

I waved my hand politely in dismissal, "We would've wanted to be here anyways."

"As hard as it was living here, it was better than whatever that trash The Kingdom of Juvo had to offer people like me." He sighed, smiling, but his face betrayed.

He looked at me, "You know how they treated people like me, who didn't have Solum in them genetically. They treated us like shit; we've been taught to be inferiors." Felix clenched his fist, looking down at the ground.

"But not anymore. . . Not anymore." He muttered as he looked at me, a fiery glint of determination surging through his eyes; a blaze had been incited in him.

"I'm done feeling like this; I think it's about time we do something about it." He declared, "I'm thankful that you and Lenin will be there to support me."

"Always." I did my best to return his smile.

Always. I knew this was a sore topic for him to discuss, and I was impressed by his vulnerability and willingness to discuss something like this.

It was more than enough to know that he was growing as an individual who may one day see his fullest potential.

But for now, I would watch from afar and do my best to support everyone and anyone.